JPH0793518A - Image document management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily hangle image data, to drastically save the time and labor required for an input processing and a read processing by performing management as one document while individually managing the image data by hierarchically managing the respective image data, to synthesize a piece of the image from the plural image data and to display and print out the image data. CONSTITUTION:When the image data of the respective documents constituting the respective documents are inputted, the image data are fetched and registered in an image storage part 4, the contents of a table part 3 are also updated based on a document ID and a page number, etc., inputted together with the image data and the image data are managed by a document unit, a hierarchy unit and an individual unit.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an image document management system for managing documents, drawings and the like in the form of image data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an image document management system for managing a document converted into image data, a method of individually managing each image data and a method of collectively managing each image data have been known. There is.

An image document management system of a system for managing each image data individually assigns an image data number to the image data read by an image scanner or the like in a one-to-one correspondence to a storage device. Store. At the time of reading, when the image data number to be read is input, the storage device is accessed based on this image data number, the image data corresponding to the image data number is read, and the CRT device is read. Is displayed on the screen and is printed out from the printer device.

In the image document management system of managing each image data on a document-by-document basis, one document number is associated with the image data of each document read by an image scanner or the like and stored in the storage device. . At the time of reading, when the document number of the document to be read is input, the storage device is accessed based on this document number, a series of image data corresponding to the document number is read, and the CRT device is read. Displayed above and also printed out from the printer device.

[0005]

However, the above-mentioned conventional image document management systems have the following problems.

First, in the image document management system in which each image data is managed individually, since the image data of each document is managed individually, the related documents cannot be treated as one document. When one document is composed of a large number of documents, there is a problem that it takes too much time and labor to perform the input process and the read process of the image data of each document.

Further, in the image document management system of the method of managing each image data in document units, since the image data of each document is managed for each document, even if there is a document common to each document, Since image data of a common document must be registered for each document, not only is the storage area wasted a lot, but also when the number of documents that make up one document is large, input processing and reading There is a problem that the processing takes too much time.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to manage image data individually by hierarchically managing each image data, and manage them as one document. This makes it easy to handle the image data and greatly reduces the time and effort required for the input processing and the read processing, and combines one image data from a plurality of image data to display or print out. The object is to provide an image document management system that can do this.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention according to claim 1 is to store an image storage unit for capturing and storing each image data forming a document, and storing the image data in the image storage unit. A table unit storing management information of each image data stored therein, and management information of the table unit is updated every time the image data is registered in the image storage unit, and when the image data is read from the image storage unit, In an image document management system including an image data management unit that reads desired image data from an image storage unit based on management information of the table unit, the table unit includes an address of the image data stored in the image storage unit. An image document information table that manages the image ID as a pair, and the image I And a page information table that manages each page of each document as a pair, and a document information table that manages each document, and the image data management unit uses the image data stored in the image storage unit as the image data. An individual image management unit that individually manages image units based on a document table, a document management unit that manages image data stored in the image storage unit in document units based on an image document table, and an image storage unit A hierarchical management unit that hierarchically manages a plurality of stored image data based on an image document table and a page information table as a single document, and a document that collectively manages the individual image management unit, the document management unit, and the hierarchical management unit It consists of a management basic part and reads a series of image data belonging to one document. At least one of a process of outputting, a process of reading image data of a specified page in a specified document, or a process of hierarchically reading a plurality of related image data as a single document is executed. It has a feature.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of related image data are read as one hierarchical document by the hierarchical management unit of the image data management unit, each of these image data is read. It is characterized in that it is provided with a synthesizing unit for synthesizing and displaying as one image data.

[0011]

In the above structure, according to the first aspect, each time the image data to be registered is input, the image data is captured by the image data management unit and registered in the image storage unit. Management information is updated. Then, when an image data read command is input, a series of image data belonging to one document from the image storage unit or a designated page of a designated document by the image data management unit based on the management information of the table unit. Image data, at least one of the related image data is read and displayed,
Printed out.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of related image data are read out by the image data management section, the respective image data are combined by the combining section and one image data is created and displayed. It

[0013]

1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image document management system according to the present invention.

Image document management system 1 shown in FIG.
Includes a management unit 2, a table unit 3, and an image storage unit 4, and when image data of each document forming each document is input, the image data is captured and registered in the image storage unit 4. At the same time, the contents of the table unit 3 are updated based on the document ID, page number, etc. input together with this image data, and the image data is managed in document units, layer units, and individual units.

The management unit 2 includes a document management basic unit 5, a document information management unit 6, a hierarchy management unit 7, and an individual image management unit 8.
When the image data of the documents that compose each document is input, the image data is fetched, registered in the image storage unit 4, and input together with the image data. The contents of the table unit 3 are updated based on the document ID, page number, etc. to be read, and when the document ID, page number, etc. of the document to be read are input, the image storage unit 4 is updated based on these information. Accessing and reading out the necessary image data, this is displayed individually or combined.

The document management basic unit 5 is a central part of the management unit 2, and when the image data of the documents constituting each document is input, the individual image management unit 8 is operated to take in the image data. Then, while registering this in the image storage unit 4, the document information management unit 6, the hierarchy management unit 7, and the individual image management unit 8 are operated to create a table based on the document ID, page number, etc. input together with the image data. When the content of the section 3 is updated and a request for taking out a document is input, a read request is issued to any of the document information management section 6, the hierarchy management section 7 or the individual image management section 8 based on the request for taking out the document. hand over.

The document information management section 6 is a section for managing the image data registered in the image storage section 4 in document units. When the document management basic section 5 supplies search information or a document ID, this search is performed. The image of each image data corresponding to the search information or the document ID is updated by updating the contents of the table unit 3 based on the information or the document ID, or the table 3 is searched based on the search information or the document ID. The ID is read and each of these image IDs is supplied to the individual image management unit 8.

Further, the hierarchy management unit 7 includes an image storage unit 4
Is a part for managing the image data registered in the hierarchical unit, and when the document management basic unit 5 supplies the document ID, the page number, etc., the contents of the table unit 3 are based on the document ID, the page number, etc. The table unit 3 is updated and the table unit 3 is searched based on the document ID and page number, and the image ID of each image data corresponding to the document ID and page number is read and supplied to the individual image management unit 8.

The individual image management unit 8 is a unit for individually managing the image data registered in the image storage unit 4 on an image-by-image basis, and an image to be registered from an image input device (not shown) or the like. When data is input, the data is registered in the image storage unit 4, the contents of the table unit 3 are updated, and the image management unit 5, the document information management unit 6, and the hierarchy management unit 7 send the image I.
When D is supplied, the contents of the table part 3 are updated based on this image ID, or the table part 3 is searched based on the image ID to read out the address number corresponding to this image ID, The image data corresponding to the address number is read out from the image storage unit 4 based on the number and supplied to a display device or a printer device (not shown) or to the hierarchical composition display unit 9.

When synthesizing image data, the hierarchical synthesizing display unit 9 takes in each image data read by the individual image management unit 8 and performs OR processing on these image data to synthesize one image data. , Display device or printer device (not shown)
Supply to.

The table section 3 is provided with a document information management table 10, a page information table 11 and an image document management table 12, and when a write command is output from the management section 2, it is accompanied by this write command. The document information management table 10 and the page information table 1 based on the output document ID or page number, image ID, etc.
1. When the contents of the image document management table 12 are updated, and when a read command is output from the management unit 2, the document ID or page number output together with this read command,
The document information management table 10, the page information table 11, and the image document management table 1 based on the image ID and the like.
The contents of No. 2 are read out and supplied to the management unit 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, the document information management table 10 is described in this search information area 15 and a search information area 15 in which a document name or a search word necessary for searching a document is described. Document ID area 16 in which the unique number (document ID) of the document corresponding to the document content is described
When a write command is output from the document information management unit 6 of the management unit 2, the contents output with the write command (descriptor selection information and search information, When the document information descriptor 17 is selected based on the document ID or the like to write or change information, and when a read command is output from the document information management unit 6,
The document information descriptor 17 specified based on the descriptor selection information output together with this read command is selected, and the content of this document information descriptor 17 is supplied to the document information management unit 6.

As shown in FIG. 3, the page information table 11 includes a document ID area 18 in which a unique number (document ID) of the document is described, and pages constituting the document described in the document ID area 18. Page number area 19 in which the number of each page is described, and an image ID area 20 in which a unique number (image ID) for the image data of the page described in this page number area 19 is described.
And a plurality of page information descriptors 21 having
When a writing command is output from the document information management unit 6 or the hierarchy management unit 7 of the management unit 2, based on the contents (descriptor selection information, document ID, page information, image ID, etc.) output together with this writing command. When the page information descriptor 21 is selected to write or change information, and when a read command is output from the document information management unit 6 or the hierarchy management unit 7, based on the descriptor selection information output together with this read command. The specified page information descriptor 21 is selected and the contents of this page information descriptor 21 are supplied to the document information management unit 6 and the hierarchy management unit 7.

Further, the image document management table 12 is
As shown in FIG. 4, an image ID area 22 in which a unique number (image ID) for the image data of the page is described, and an address in which address data indicating the storage location of the image data described in this image ID area 22 is described. When a write command is output from the individual image management unit 8 of the management unit 2, a plurality of image information descriptors 24 having an area 23 and contents output with the write command (descriptor selection information or image When the image information descriptor 24 is selected based on the ID, address data, etc.) to write or change information, and when the individual image management unit 8 outputs a read command,
The image information descriptor 24 specified based on the descriptor selection information output together with this read command is selected, and the contents of this image information descriptor 24 are supplied to the individual image management unit 8.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the image storage section 4 is provided with a plurality of image areas 25 for storing the image data of each page forming each document (image data of each document) for each page. When the writing information is output from the individual image management unit 8, the image data output together with this writing command is fetched and stored in the specified address, and the reading command is output from the individual image management unit 8. At this time, the image data is read from the address specified by this read command and supplied to the individual image management unit 8.

Next, the image data registration operation and the image data read operation of this embodiment will be systematically described with reference to the drawings.

<< Image Data Registration Operation >> First, as shown in FIG. 6, when the image data to be registered is input from the image input device, the individual image management section 8 starts its operation according to the instruction of the document management basic section 5. Then, the input image data is registered in the image storage unit 4, and the identification management information (search information, document ID, page) of the image data input by the document management basic unit 5 before and after the image data registration operation. (Information, image ID, etc.) is taken in, the document information management unit 6 and the individual image management unit 8 operate, and the contents of the document information management table 10, the page information table 11, and the image document management table 12 are updated.

[0028] Thus, one document names as shown in FIG. 7 (a) (e.g., "Article X") a plurality of image data to (e.g., "D ₁ to D _m ') among the first image data ( When “D ₁ ”) is input, this image data (“D ₁ ”) is stored in the image storage unit 4,
One document information descriptor 17 in the document information management table 10 is selected, the search information and the document ID (“document X”) are written in the document information descriptor 17, and the document information descriptor 17 is stored in the page information table 11. Page information descriptor 2
1 is selected and the document ID is stored in this page descriptor 21.
(“Document X”), page information (for example, “P ₁ ”), and image ID (for example, “I ₁ ”) are written, and one image information descriptor 24 in the image document management table 12 is selected. Then, the image ID (“I ₁ ”) and the address data (for example, “A ₁ ”) are written in the image information descriptor 24.

Hereinafter, as shown in FIGS. 7B and 7C, each time the remaining image data ("D _{2 to} D _m ") for this document name ("Document X") is input, this image data is input. (“D _{2 to} D _m ”) is stored in the image storage unit 4, the next page information descriptor 21 in the page information table 11 is selected, and the document ID (“document” is stored in the page information descriptor 21. X ”) and page information (“ P ₂ ~ ”
P _m ") and the image IDs of these pages (" I ₂ ~ I
_m ”) is written, the next image information descriptor 24 in the image document description management table 12 is selected, and the image ID (“ I ”of each page registered in this image information descriptor 24 is selected. ₂ ~I _m ") and the address data (" a ₂ ~A _m ") and is written.

In the state shown in FIG. 7B, a new document name (for example, "document Y") is input and registered in the image storage unit 4 as a page for this document name ("document Y"). When image data (for example, “D ₁ ”) corresponding to another document name is designated, the next document information descriptor 17 in the document information management table 10 is selected as shown in FIG. The search information and the document ID (“document Y”) are written in the document information descriptor 17, and the next page information descriptor 21 in the page information table 11 is selected to store the document in the page descriptor 21. The ID (“Document Y”), the page information (“P ₁ ”), and the image ID (“I ₁ ”) that is the same as the already registered image ID (“I ₁ ”) are written. In this case, since new image data (“D ₁ ”) has not been registered in the image storage unit 4, the image document record management table 12 is not updated.

Hereinafter, as shown in FIGS. 8B and 8C, the remaining image data (for example, "D ₃
"Every time) is input, the image data _{(" ~D L-1 D 3} ~D L-1 ") is stored in the image storage unit 4,
Further, the next page information descriptor 21 in the page information table 11 is selected, and the document ID (“document Y”) and page information (“P ₂ to
P _L-1 ”) and the image ID of this page (“ I ₃ ~ I
_L-1 ") is written, and the next image information descriptor 24 in the image document description management table 12 is selected, and the image ID (""of the page to be registered in this image information descriptor 24 is selected. I ₃ ~I _L-1 ") and address data _{(" a 3 ~A L-1} ") and is written.

<Image Data Read Operation><DocumentUnit> When a document unit read command for the image data registered in the image storage unit 4 is input, as shown in FIG. The document information management unit 6 starts operating according to an instruction from the unit 5.

As a result, each document information descriptor 17 of the document information table 10 is accessed based on the search information input by the document information management unit 6 together with the image data read command, and the document to be read out. The document information descriptor 17 corresponding to the name is selected. Then, the document ID area 1 of the selected document information descriptor 17
After the document ID described in 6 is read, each page information descriptor 21 of the page information table 11 is accessed based on this document ID, and each page information descriptor 21 corresponding to the document ID is selected. At the same time, the image ID described in the image ID area 20 of each of the page information descriptors 21 is read out and passed to the individual image management unit 8.

In the individual image management unit 8, each image information descriptor 24 of the image document management table 12 of the table unit 3 is accessed based on each image ID,
Each image information descriptor 2 corresponding to each image ID
4 is selected and the address data of each image data described in the address area 23 of each of these image information descriptors 24 is read out, and then in the image storage unit 4 based on each of these address data. Of the image data are accessed and the image data corresponding to the document name are sequentially read out, transferred to a display device for display, and transferred to a printer device for printing.

As a result, for example, when the information of the content shown in FIG. 10 is registered in the table unit 3 and the image storage unit 4 and the content of "document Y" is designated as the search information, the document information management unit 6 The document information management table 10 of the table section 3 is accessed, and the search information area 1
5, "Document Y" is read as the document ID corresponding to the contents of 5, and the page information table 11 is accessed based on this "Document Y" to obtain the image ID of each page corresponding to "Document Y". "I ₁ ",
“I ₃ ” and “I ₄ ” are read and passed to the individual image management unit 8.

Then, the individual image management unit 8 accesses the image document management table 12 based on each image ID "I ₁ ", "I ₃ ", "I ₄ ",
As the address data in which the image of each page of the “Document Y” is stored, “A ₁ ”, “A ₃ ”, and “A ₄ ”
Is read out, and image data “D ₁ ” of each page is read from the image storage unit 4 based on these address data “A ₁ ”, “A ₃ ”, and “A ₄ ”.
“D ₃ ” and “D ₄ ” are read out and supplied to the display device and the printer device.

<Individual Unit> In addition, a page-by-page read command for the image data registered in the image storage unit 4 is input, the document name is not directly specified, and only search information and page information are input. If so, the document information management unit 6 starts operating according to an instruction from the document management basic unit 5 as shown in FIG.

As a result, the document information management section 6 accesses each of the document information descriptors 17 of the document information table 10 of the table section 3 and selects the document information descriptor 17 corresponding to the retrieval information to be read. At the same time, after the document ID described in the document ID area 16 of the document information descriptor 17 is read, each page information descriptor 21 of the page information table 11 of the table unit 3 is accessed based on this document ID. At the same time, each page information descriptor 21 corresponding to the document ID is selected, and among these page information descriptors 21, the page descriptor 2 in which the page information to be read is described
The image ID described in the image ID area 20 of No. 1 is read and passed to the individual image management unit 8.

When the document ID indicating the document name is directly input, the document information management unit 6 as shown in FIG.
Access each page information descriptor 21 of the page information table 11 of the table unit 3 based on the document ID, select each page information descriptor 21 corresponding to the document ID, and also each page information descriptor 21
Of these, the image ID described in the image ID area 20 of the page descriptor 21 in which the page information to be read is described is read and passed to the individual image management unit 8.

In the individual image management section 8, each image information descriptor 24 of the image document management table 12 of the table section 3 is accessed based on the image ID, and the image information descriptor 24 corresponding to the image ID is selected. At the same time, after the address data of the image data described in the address area 23 of the image information descriptor 24 is read, each image data in the image storage unit 4 is accessed based on this address data, and Image data corresponding to the document name and the page information is read out and transferred to a display device for display, or transferred to a printer device for printing.

As a result, for example, the information of the contents shown in FIG. 13 is registered in the table portion 3 and the image storage portion 4, "document Y" or the retrieval information indicating this "document Y" is input as the retrieval information, and the page information When the content for designating the first page is input as, the document information management unit 6 accesses the document information management table 10 of the table unit 3, and the document ID corresponding to the content of the search information area 15 is entered.
"Document Y" is read out, or "Document Y" is specified based on the input information, and the page information table 11 is accessed based on this "Document Y" to access the "Document Y". Image ID of each page corresponding to
As a result, “I ₁ ” is read out and passed to the individual image management unit 8.

Then, the individual image management unit 8 accesses the image document management table 12 based on the image ID ("I ₁ "), and the address data "in which the image of the page of the" Document Y "is stored is stored. A ₁ ″ is read, and image data “D ₁ ” of the page is read from the image storage unit 4 based on the address data “A ₁ ”, which is supplied to the display device and the printer device.

<Layer Unit> Further, when a read command for the layer unit for the image data registered in the image storage unit 4 is inputted, the layer management unit 7 is instructed by the document management basic unit 5 as shown in FIG. Starts to work.

As a result, each page information descriptor 21 of the page information table 11 is accessed by the hierarchy management unit 7 based on the hierarchy information indicating one whole document or only a part thereof, and each page information corresponding to the document ID is accessed. Descriptor 2
The image ID described in the image ID area 20 of the page descriptor 21 in which the page information of the layer to be read is described is read out, and this is passed to the individual image management unit 8.

As a result, the individual image management unit 8 operates to access each image information descriptor 24 of the image document management table 12 based on the image ID, and the image information descriptor 24 corresponding to the image ID. Is selected and this image information descriptor 2
After the address data of the image data described in the address area 23 of No. 4 is read, each image data in the image storage unit 4 is accessed based on this address data to correspond to the document name and the page information. The image data to be read is read out and supplied to the hierarchical composition display unit 9.

Then, each of these image data is OR-processed on the memory by the hierarchical composition display unit 9 to obtain 1
After being converted into one image data (image data in which a plurality of image data are superposed), the image data is transferred to a display device and displayed, or transferred to a printer device and printed out.

As a result, for example, when the information of the content shown in FIG. 15 is registered in the table section 3 and the image storage section 4, and the information indicating the first and second pages of "Document Y" is input as the hierarchical information. The page information table 11 is accessed by the hierarchy management unit 7 based on the “document Y” in the table unit 3, and the image IDs of the first and second pages corresponding to the “document Y” are
“I ₁ ” and “I ₃ ” are read out and passed to the individual image management unit 8.

Then, the individual image management section 8 accesses the image document management table 12 based on the image IDs "I ₁ " and "I ₃ ", and stores the image of the page of the "document Y". As the address data, “A ₁ ” and “A ₃ ” are read, and based on these address data “A ₁ ” and “A ₃ ”, the image data “of the page to be read from the image storage unit 4” is read. D ₁ ”and“ D ₃ ”are read out and supplied to the hierarchical composition display unit 9, where they are composited and supplied to the display device and the printer device.

As a result, among the image data registered in the image storage unit 4, the related drawings such as the drawing of parts and the wiring drawing of each part are made into one drawing and displayed on the display device. Or printed out from the printer device.

As described above, in this embodiment, when the image data of each document of each document is input, this image data is fetched, registered in the image storage unit 4, and input together with this image data. Since the contents of the table portion 3 are updated based on the document ID, page number, etc., and the image data is managed in document units, layer units, and individual units, the following effects can be obtained.

First, since the information for individually managing the image data and the information for managing the document are independent, the same image data can be shared by a plurality of documents.
Therefore, even when the same image data that is common to a plurality of documents is changed, it is possible to update a plurality of documents by changing only one image data, and the efficiency of update work is significantly improved.

Further, since the image data contained in one document can be individually taken out, only the necessary pages can be taken out, and the reading time can be greatly shortened.

Further, since the image data is managed in layers, one drawing can be divided into layers for each purpose and individually corrected, and a plurality of drawings can share the same drawing. Therefore, the drawings can be efficiently maintained.

[0054]

As described above, according to the present invention, the information for individually managing the image data and the information for managing the document are independent, so that the same image data is shared by a plurality of documents. Therefore, even if the same image data that is common to multiple documents is changed, 1
It is possible to update multiple documents simply by changing one image data, and the efficiency of update work is significantly improved.

Further, since the image data contained in one document can be taken out individually, only the necessary pages can be taken out, and the reading time can be greatly shortened.

Further, since the image data is managed in layers, for example, one drawing can be divided into layers for each purpose and individually corrected, and a plurality of drawings can share the same drawing. Therefore, the drawings can be efficiently maintained. This makes it easy to handle the image data and greatly reduces the time and effort required for the input processing and the read processing, and combines one image data from a plurality of image data to display or print out. be able to.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of an image document management system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a detailed configuration example of a document information management table shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a detailed configuration example of a page information table shown in FIG.

4 is an explanatory diagram showing a detailed configuration example of an image document management table shown in FIG.

5 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a detailed configuration example of an image storage unit illustrated in FIG.

6 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image registration operation of the image document management system shown in FIG.

7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image registration operation of the image document management system shown in FIG.

8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image registration operation of the image document management system shown in FIG.

9 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image reading operation in document units of the image document management system shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image reading operation in document units of the image document management system shown in FIG.

11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image reading operation in individual units of the image document management system shown in FIG.

12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image reading operation in individual units of the image document management system shown in FIG.

13 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image reading operation in individual units of the image document management system shown in FIG.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image reading operation in hierarchical units of the image document management system shown in FIG.

15 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of an image reading operation in hierarchical units of the image document management system shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 image document management system 2 management unit 3 table unit 4 image storage unit 5 document management basic unit (image data management unit) 6 document information management unit (image data management unit) 7 hierarchy management unit (image data management unit) 8 individual image Management part (image data management part) 9 Hierarchical composition display part (composition part) 10 Document information management table 11 Page information table 12 Image document management table

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Internal reference number FI technical display location 9194-5L G06F 15/413 310 A

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An image storage unit for capturing and storing image data of a document, a table unit for storing management information of each image data stored in the image storage unit, and the image storage unit. Image data for updating desired management data from the image storage unit based on the management information of the table unit when updating the management information of the table unit every time image data is registered and reading the image data from the image storage unit In the image document management system including a management unit, the table unit manages an image document address table and an image ID stored in the image storage unit as a pair, and the image ID and the image ID information table. A page information table that manages each page of the document as a pair, And a document information table for managing each document, wherein the image data management unit manages the image data stored in the image storage unit individually for each image based on the image document table, and A document management unit that manages the image data stored in the image storage unit in document units based on an image document table; and a plurality of image data stored in the image storage unit based on an image document table and a page information table. A series of image data belonging to one document, which is composed of a hierarchy management unit that hierarchically manages as one document and a document management basic unit that collectively manages the individual image management unit, the document management unit, and the hierarchy management unit. Process to read the image data of the specified page in the specified document Of the processing for reading as a single document by the hierarchical processing, or multiple related image data read, image document management system, which comprises performing at least one of the processing. 2. When a plurality of related image data are read out as one hierarchical document by the hierarchical management unit of the image data management unit, the respective image data are combined into one image data. The image document management system according to claim 1, further comprising a synthesizing unit for displaying the images in an overlapping manner.